ACU looking to cut budget by 5 to 6 percent

6 Jul, 2011 Learning Today Percent

Facing a shortfall, Abilene Christian University is looking to identify reductions equivalent to at least 5 percent of its annual budget, the school’s top official said.

ACU President Phil Schubert informed the university’s faculty and staff in a letter Tuesday that he has asked the Senior Leadership Team, composed of Schubert and several senior university officials, to work this summer to identify potential reductions of 5 to 6 percent.

Schubert said the budget shortfall was caused by three factors: the fall 2011 freshman class is smaller than expected; the university sold fewer credit hours over the past five years while continuing to add to staff and faculty; and ACU is facing a 16 percent reduction, or about $700,000, in state funding for the Texas Equalization Grant program.

Schubert said in his letter that although ACU has been blessed with great friends and good long-term planning, the university must make decisions in its annual budget to maintain its good position.

“Good stewardship demands we make decisions that position us for future success,” Schubert said in a news release. “ACU is blessed with a strong endowment to help protect its future, but we are not immune to the kinds of adjustments most universities are having to make to their annual operating budgets.”

“While we are living and working in an extraordinarily difficult economic environment, ACU has been blessed with a strong endowment, years of healthy student demand and a great number of committed friends and donors who continually support ACU,” he said in his letter.

“We are now three years into the 21st Century Vision — the strategic direction we have set, together, for the next decade.”

ACU is Abilene’s eighth largest employer with 866 workers, according to the Abilene Industrial Foundation’s website.

Schubert said he will inform faculty and staff in August about any budget decisions made.

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